AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, January 18, 2007:

Apple Reports Record 1Q Profit

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ With the iPod juggernaut still soaring, Apple Inc. reaped record profits during the holiday quarter and stands to remain a Wall Street darling despite issuing a second-quarter forecast that fell below analyst expectations. "Their guidance is always conservative," Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said. "It's a bunch of hoo-ha."

___

Retailers Assess Citrus Freeze Impact

CINCINNATI (AP) _ Grocery retailers are taking stock of the impact California's freeze will have on supplies and the prices of citrus, strawberries and other damaged crops in their stores. Meghan Glynn, spokeswoman for Kroger Co., said Wednesday that severe weather in California, Arizona and parts of Mexico is expected to hurt store supplies for several months.

___

Rite Aid Shareholders to Vote on Deal

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ Rite Aid Corp. is hoping to get the green light from shareholders to buy more than 1,800 Brooks and Eckerd stores and put the company within reach of drugstore leaders Walgreen Co. and CVS Corp. Just a few years after the nation's third-largest drugstore chain reached the brink of bankruptcy, Rite Aid could expand by more than half to become the largest drugstore operator on the East Coast.

___

IKEA Plans Move Into North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ In the home state of America's furniture industry, where competition from abroad has shuttered dozens of manufacturing plants and led to thousands of lost jobs, a new foreign invader is on the way. The iconic Swedish home furnishings retailer IKEA plans to open its first store in the Carolinas in 2009, not far from the marketplace that's the largest gathering in the business.

___

Gates Foundation Renews Library Venture

SEATTLE (AP) _ The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is renewing its effort to support free access to the Internet in U.S. libraries by providing new computers and high-speed connections to those that have struggled to keep up with technology. A new series of grants beginning with an $11.5 million investment last month will continue to put millions of dollars into libraries in 32 states, said Jill Nishi, program manager for the foundation's library initiative. The foundation bought new hardware for libraries in the other 18 states last year.

___

Saudis to Increase Oil Output Capacity

NEW DELHI (AP) _ Saudi Arabia plans to increase its crude oil production capacity nearly 40 percent by 2009 and double its refining size over the next five years to keep pace with growing global demand, the country's oil minister said Thursday. Ali Naimi said the plans are part of a $80-billion-commitment that Saudi Arabia _ the world's biggest oil exporter _ has made to increase oil supplies in the global market.

___

Oil Prices Rebound in Asia

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices rose Thursday in Asian trading following an overnight rally of more than $1 a barrel on speculation that prices may have bottomed out. "After so many days of sharply falling prices, participants are quite understandably nervous about staking out a long claim until the market stabilizes," wrote Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president for energy risk management at Fimat USA, in his daily note to clients.

___

BOJ Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged

TOKYO (AP) _ The Bank of Japan decided Thursday to keep interest rates unchanged amid mounting political pressures to hold off on raising borrowing costs to sustain the nation's economic recovery. In a 6-3 vote, the central bank's nine-member policy board kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 0.25 percent, the BOJ said in a statement.

___

Dow Ends Down 5 on Slow Economic Growth

NEW YORK (AP) _ Wall Street finished mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve reported slow but steady regional economic growth, deflating hopes for an interest rate cut that were already dampened by a larger-than-expected producer price index. Investors' rate worries trumped their optimism about strong earnings in the financial services sector, which earlier in the day helped nudge the Dow Jones industrials above 12,600 for the first time.

___

JPMorgan Chase 4Q Profit Soars 68 Pct.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Fourth-quarter earnings at JPMorgan Chase & Co. soared 68 percent on strong investment banking growth and a gain from the sale of the bank's corporate trust business, but signs of worsening credit quality worried investors. The New York-based bank, the nation's third largest, on Wednesday was the latest financial institution to report solid 2006 profit growth while warning of deteriorating credit as customers appeared to have more trouble keeping up with their bills.

___

Gold Prices

LONDON (AP) _ Gold bullion opened Thursday at a bid price of $632.50 a troy ounce, up from $631.64 late Wednesday.

___

Japan Markets

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stocks rose to a nine-month high Thursday following the central bank's decision to keep interest rates unchanged. The dollar rose against the yen, lifting exporters like Honda.

___

Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar rose in Asia Thursday, briefly touching a 13-month high, after the Bank of Japan's decision to keep interest rates unchanged.

A service of The Associated Press. Copyright 2007 All rights reserved.